1. Technical Field
This invention relates to billed caps and, more particularly, to such a cap that is self-adjusting to fit all head sizes.
2. Background Art
Originally billed caps, commonly referred to as xe2x80x9cball capsxe2x80x9d, were produced in a variety of fixed sizes, which usually varied by xe2x85x9 inch, to custom fit customers. This caused inventory and manufacturing problems, which resulted in uniformly high cap prices. Many attempts have been made to provide a xe2x80x9cone-size-fits-allxe2x80x9d ball cap, so that only one size of hat need be produced and inventoried. These include providing a cutout or gap in the cap rear and an adjustable-length strap that can be sized to various head sizes.
This type of hat has found great popularity and has effected an explosion in novelty hat sales, as prices have plunged as compared to the sized hats. These hats, of necessity, have an inherent defect in that they cannot compare in appearance to sized hats because of the rear gap, which causes a folding of material when sized for all but the largest head. In a word, they look xe2x80x9ccheapxe2x80x9d. To overcome this, attempts have been made to provide a more fitted look. One includes a flap to cover this discontinuity in cap design, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,148xe2x80x94Satterfield.
A more successful arrangement provides excessive material which is gathered by an elastic sweat band that stretches to fit all head sizes. This suffers from a bunching of material and looks xe2x80x9ccheapxe2x80x9d. Several more recent patents, U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,415xe2x80x94Beckerman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,540xe2x80x94Cho, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,966742xe2x80x94Cunliffe, illustrate variations of a cap having stretchable rear gores and elastic sweat bands. These have found little commercial success because they are difficult to manufacture and do not provide the look of a fitted hat because the elastic gores have no xe2x80x9cbodyxe2x80x9d.
A more recent design of cap, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,572xe2x80x94Park, provides an elastic gusset between gores, which is expensive to manufacture and is limited in its ability to stretch.
Finally, an attempt to combine the cutout and strap with elastic gores, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,273xe2x80x94Cho, which combines the worst features of elastic and strap, has severely limited stretchability and, again looks xe2x80x9ccheapxe2x80x9d.
None of these attempts to provide a xe2x80x9cone size fits allxe2x80x9d, or xe2x80x9cfree sizexe2x80x9d hat having the appearance of a fitted cap. Thus, there is a need for a ball cap that has the appearance of a fitted cap, but is capable of fitting many head sizes.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a ball cap that has the appearance of a fitted cap, but is capable of fitting many head sizes.
This invention is directed to a ball cap that has an elastic gore and partially elasticized sweatband, both of which are supported by a unique system of stiffeners that completely support the elasticized portions to provide the appearance of a fitted cap when stretched to any size.
In one aspect, this invention features a ball cap having a front bill, a plurality of gores that meet at the cap crown, wherein one of the gores is elasticized to enable circumferential stretching of the cap to accommodate a plurality of different head sizes, and including a folded stiffener assembly underlying the stretchable gore which unfolds as the gore stretches to provide continuous support for the gore at any head size.
In another aspect this invention features a self-adjusting sweat band that includes a main non-stretchable segment underlying all gores except the stretchable gore, and stretchable segment underlying the stretchable gore, the stretchable segment being attached at its ends to the main portion, wherein the minor portion is sufficiently long to slide along the remainder of the sweatband to provide a substantially continuous non-stretchable sweatband around the circumference of the cap at all head sizes.
These and other objects and features of this invention will become more readily apparent upon reference to the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: